The Ozzies
The Ozzies was an early band of pirates first established during the Great War. Before the war, they were merchant sailors working for Ores, Oars and Mores, an Australian shipping company smuggling Chinese military equipment into the United States. In the Post-War world, they raided the Cascadian coastline, terrorising the early settlements. They eventually dissolved due to infighting caused by the lack of fuel in their ship in 2086. History Merchant Sailors The Ozzies started life as a crew of merchant sailors (or smugglers, depending on who you ask) working for the OO&M company. Like almost every other crew under OO&M, the Ozzies were on charter, transporting certain cargo for the company as required. Reginald 'Reggie' Long - the eventual Skipper of the Aussies - had first joined the company in 2069 after leaving the navy. His ship, the Marionette, was put to use smuggling Chinese military equipment into the United States. Long transported Chinese Assault Rifle , ammunition and Chinese uniforms into ports around the US, from Honolulu to DC . The Marionette was a 30 crew, 400 metre, 95 ton cargo ship, capable of transporting a wide variety of dry goods. In it's 8 year service history before the Great War, it transported hundred of tons of goods across the world: metals to the European Commonwealth, Uranium to the US and even Chinese military equipment to fifth columnists. 26 crew piloted the ship, included three navigators (Fred, Red Ted), two cooks (Guierre and Donovan) and three cats (Kitty, Bruce and Felix). By 2077, the crew had all worked with one another for at least two and a half years and had a tight, close chemistry. On October 6 2077, the Marionette left port in Botany Bay for Seattle-Tacoma, Washington. Offically, they were transported packaged Australian meats to aid in relieving food riots in the country. While this was a part of the cargo, also on board were 48 assault rifles, 15 pistols, 50 jumpsuits and over 1500 rounds of ammunition, stored in crates at the bottom of the ship. The next day, OO&M was revealed to be smuggling guns and all ships were forced to remain at harbour. The War The Great War occured the day before the Marionette arrived at Seattle. While not close enough to worry about the the blinding flash of light, the mushroom clouds in and around the city were enough to let the crew know what had happened. After some internal debate, the crew agreed to steam straight to land, hoping to find surviviors and establish a firm basis of what was going on. The Ozzies arrived in the early hours of the morning, pulling into the Salish Sea at 4:40. The city was still in panic from the bombs, with almost all infrastructure having collapsed. The National Guard kept trying to maintain order and the collapse of any chain of command had made them panicky of a Chinese invasion. A military unit still guarding the coast saw the approaching vessel. There was no time to check who they are, to radio them and check the identities. Instead, the coastal gunners - young, panicked, missing their families and angry at the Chinese - simply fired upon. Aboard the Marionette, the shells went far and wide, missing the vessel by hundreds of metres. Yet the crew immediately turned around, pulling away from the coast. The ship ran an ever more dangerous gauntlet as more batteries joined in, hugging the coast as to not get lost, but aware of the danger just one shell could pose to the merchant vessel. Eventually, the Marionette and its crew escaped the range of the guns, ending up lost, angry and confused just north of Ocean City, Washington. Pirates The crew considered their lives. To them, Australia was lost. An ocean and at least a month of travel away, their families may as well have not existed. The Americans were hostile to them. To the crew, it seemed that these same bloody Americans that bloody shot at them bloody started this bloody war. And so, when they crew hungered for fresh food, they cracked open the crates of military equipment, boarded one of the small boats and descended upon the city of Queets. The Australians proved merciless. The massacred every person they saw, shooting them down as they ran. They took whatever they wanted, going so fa as to slaughter farm animals and haul them back to the ship. The ship bookkeeper, Charlie Bates, tallied 77 bottles of various alcohol, 53 kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables, and 1200 kilograms of freshly slaughtered meat. Queets was all but salted by the murderous Ozzies. This began a pattern up and down the Washington and Oregon coasts. Throughout 2077 and 2078, the rabid bunch of Australians erased towns left and right. Bates logged all gains and from where. Pacific Beach netted the crew dozens of American chems before being erased. Rockaway City allowed the armoury to stock up on weapons and ammunition (including an American Fat Man). Crescent City saw the wildmen unleashed among women, with expected results. This pattern continued, with the ship and it's crew slowly evolving to fit their new roles as raiders. Men who often went on 'Shore Leave' - as raids were referred to - customised their weapons, put on war paints, brought out their favourite rugby jersey, or armoured up their regular clothing. Guierre and Donovan were given resturant-style chefs outfits from a fancy ocean front resturant, Bates the Bookeeper gained a terminal from a library and even the three cats earned themslves various collars. The Skipper of the ship, Reggie Long, of course gained the best of each raid: a tricked out gun here, an interesting knick-knack and occasionally even fresh meat (in both meanings of the phrase). In 2079, a Pip-Boy 3000 was even found, which was given to the Skipper for his personal use. The ship itself changed to become a more permanent home. A large meatlocker was installed early in 2080, giving the galley extra room to store the bounty of food brought in by the raiding parties. An area was cordoned off to serve as an armoury, with a small workshop installed nearby to repair weaponry. One of the mechanics aboard, Ricky, became the ships handyman and impromptu gunsmith. Shipping containers on the top deck were emptied out and used as bedrooms by the crew, with each one dragging in furniture, bedding and personal items. The ship slowly turned into a home for the Ozzies, instead of just a piece of transport. Infighting and Dissolution This seeming paradise could not last forever. Unpillaged towns began to run out and miliitas began springing up in greater and greater numbers. In 2083, the youngest guy on Shore Leave, Boy George, was killed by a wastelander in Rockaway Beach, Oregon. The loss of the 'kid' as he was affectionately known caused the Ozzies to lash out in a way they hadn't since the first weeks after the war. The city was burned, shot up, poisoned, salted and was even mini-nuked as a goodbye. The kids death hit the Skipper hardest. As the captain of the ship, he was personally responsible for the health and wellbeing of everyone aboard. As the prolonged exposure drew them closer, he began to almost feel fatherly for the crew, despite being a very simiarly age to them. When they kid died, something inside him broke and he withdrew from the crew, growing colder. The man was old even before the war but its said that it was only then that his hair went grey. The crew slowly began to fight with one another. It wasn't anything major at first - the odd comment here, the slight dig there - but it grew steadily. In the summer of 2084, the first fight occured. The two cooks fought over who was making the nights meal, resorting to fists when it could not be resolved. 2084 saw the two more casualties on shore leave, when two Ozzies fighting over the spoils of one wastelander were ambushed and killed. Three dead in two years may not seem like much, but to such a small and closely knit group, the loss was practically insurmountable. The crew was at each others throat at all times and it was only the fatherly advice and meditation of the Skipper that stopped more fights. On a rainy November day in 2085, the Skipper died. He had been sick for weeks, likely from continuous deprivation of essential foods, but only passed away after a paticularly long night. The crew - the glue that held them together now gone - turned on each other immediately. They managed to stay together for a few more weeks, raiding a settlement here and there, but the terrifying Ozzies which had haunted the coast for years were no more. By mid-2086, the group was no longer effective. When the Marionette dropped anchor outside Skamokowa on March 17th, the Ozzies abandoned it, with each individual going their own seperate way in the vast Cascadian wildernesss. Category:Pre-War Group Category:Raiders Category:Cascadia